NEWARK-What if?

A clipped phase-two words and a question mark. However, it can reveal a multitude of possibilities on the purpose and direction of a single life. It can come at a critical moment, when someone pauses to consider one choice among many; a choice that will have profound consequences.

Father Pedro Bismarck Chau posed the what-if question to students at Saint Benedict's Prep, 520 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., on Nov. 3 as the featured speaker at the school's third annual Vocation Awareness Day program.

Mary Eased Sorrow, Pain of Benkovic
NUTLEY-"If it wasn't for the intercession of Mary, I wouldn't be here today," Johnnette S. Benkovic, keynote speaker at the annual Women's Day of Reflection, declared.

The April 4 event at Holy Family Parish drew over 800 guests. This year's theme "Mary and the Holy Spirit," holds special significance for Benkovic. After tragically losing her son Simon in a car accident, she lost her husband of 34 years, Anthony, to cancer just a few years later. She credits Our Lady with helping her through her trials.

After years as a non-practicing Catholic who "turned her back on The Way," Benkovic had a profound conversion in 1981 following a charismatic prayer meeting. Since then, she has made it her life's mission to spread the word of God throughout all media.

Given the unique status of the Holocaust as an icon of evil in a morally confused world, Holocaustdenial triggers revulsions similar to those triggered by blasphemy in the Middle Ages: the Holocaust-denier must be shunned for everyone else's moral health.

Thus it was completely understandable that, when Pope Benedict XVI lifted the excommunications of four bishops illegally ordained in 1988 by the late French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, reporting and commentary focused on the fact that one of the four, Richard Williamson, is a Holocaust-denier and a man given to extolling that hoary anti-Semitic forgery, "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion."
 
Understandable, but something of freakish sideshow, for Williamson is an internationally known crank and no serious person can believe that Benedict XVI's act constituted an endorsement of Williamson's lunatic view of history. As the pope made clear at his Jan. 28 general audience, he has long recognized the Holocaust as a unique icon of wickedness-one that should call all of us "to reflect on the unpredictable power of evil when it conquers the heart of man."

NEWARK - The annual "Women's Day of Reflection," an all-day forum sponsored by the Women's Commission of the Archdiocese of Newark, will be held Saturday, April 4, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., at Holy Family Parish, 28 Brookline Ave., Nutley.

For most college students, doing manual labor in rural West Virginia-compared with reclining on a sunny beach in Florida-would not be high on a top-10 list of "favorite things to do" during winter break. However, a dedicated group of Caldwell College students discovered that working at Nazareth Farm in Salem, WV, proved to be an invaluable, spiritual experience-one that turned out to be far more meaningful than beach time.

325 Attendees Gain Insights on Faith, Caring


PARAMUS-The sixth annual Stewardship Day conference, held Nov. 3 at Paramus Catholic High School and sponsored by the archdiocesan Office of Development, celebrated an understanding of stewardship and its importance to the Church.

A spiritual journey that began two decades ago at Our Lady of Mercy Parish in Park Ridge has led Thomas Garofalo to the Holy Land. Garofalo, who participated in youth activities at his parish, has been a representative for Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in the Holy Land for the past two years.